Personalize Direct Mail Campaigns. Here’s Why

Each time a person checks their mail at home or work, they have an opportunity to hold a personalized direct mail piece in their hand. If you personalize direct mail messages, you make a connection with your target audience. Keep in mind you only have a few seconds of their undivided attention to communicate your brand and unique offer. In other words, it is important to get them interested in your offer right away through direct mail personalization. 

It has been reported that consumers are 3x more likely to view personalized direct mail offers as more important than other mail. Personalization matters and you can simply use the name and address of a customer to create a direct mail experience specifically tailored to consumers. 

Let’s take a deep dive into the benefits of personalizing direct mail campaigns.

Personalized Direct Mail is All About the Data

The amount of direct mail personalization depends on the availability and accuracy of valuable customer data. The more information you have, the more personal your customer communications are for consumers. Personal data for existing customers will come from your own database and can include details such as customer status, dates of their first and last purchases, the amount of their purchases, and product categories.

New customer data comes from sources that can expand on their name and address by including demographic data such as estimated income, homeownership, credit score, age, sex and geocode coordinates (to name a few). Data helps personalize direct mail to get attention and boost brand engagement.

Now that you know why data collection is important for direct mail personalization, let’s discover how to incorporate personalized responses.

Personalized Response Direct Mail

Direct mail personalization can be extended to response devices. In the past, this meant printing the name, address, and ID number of a customer on a response card sent with an order. Now, companies collect responses online using personalized URLs (pURLs) that lead to individual landing pages that contain individual customer information. 

In addition, QR codes send consumers directly from the direct mail piece to a personalized, and trackable, landing page. Their activity is collected in your CRM to trigger additional actions like sending another personalized direct mail piece, an email drip campaign, or a personal phone call from a sales representative.

Triggered Personalized Direct Mail

A triggered direct mail approach can be used for personalized direct mail such as a subscription renewal reminder. Be sure and include the renewal deadline in the letter so there will be a sense of urgency and a need to act NOW on the part of the customer. 

Use consumer data in triggered direct mail such as pictures of the purchased product or promote purchasing upgrades or replacement parts due to the age and model of the product. Personalized direct mail creation can also be triggered online when a buyer abandons their shopping cart, stops opening email, or downloads something from your website.

Customers appreciate recognition of being loyal customers for a period of time. In other words, don’t treat them like they only started doing business with you last month. Personalize their direct mail piece to show the right level of appreciation for their loyalty.

A Little Goes a Long Way

Personalized direct mail is viewed by the receiver in their home for a longer period than typical mail. If you reveal that you have lots of data about an individual, you can cross the line between effective personalization and privacy concerns. Be subtle when including personal information in your campaign.

Vary the images, text, and offers you include based on customer data. For example, women may receive different offers from men while young adults will view images of people in their age group. On the other hand, postcards sent to senior citizens will feature older people.

With the right technology and service provider network, personalized direct mail does not cost more to produce than generic mass mail. Digital printing, advanced software, and distributed workflows let you send one mail piece or thousand of mail pieces that each contain a personalized and targeted look and approach.

Personalized direct mail campaigns speak directly to consumers and show them your brand values their business. Ask our direct mail specialists about how to personalize direct mail for your next campaign. 

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